Getty DeMar DeRozan #11 of the Chicago Bulls enters the game
Well, it didn’t take long for a certain narrative about Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan to pop back up, did it? After the Bulls dropped Game 1 versus the Milwaukee Bucks it was only a matter of time before the whispers swelled into echoes of “I told you so”.
Mo Mooncey, host of “The Hoop Genius Podcast” alongside former Bulls guard B.J. Armstrong, said he was worried we were witnessing the return of a nickname DeRozan picked up during his time with the Toronto Raptors.
“He is really testing me. Because I really don’t want to bring back the ‘DeMar DeFrozen’ nickname. But 6-for-25, 0-for-2 from three in the playoffs gives me flashbacks of DeMar DeRozan in Toronto in 46 minutes of action.”
DeRozan played his part, struggling to get to 18 points as the Bulls fell 93-86 bringing his record in Game 1s to 2-9. Not 24 hours later, there are reminders that he owns the lowest career plus-minus in playoff history.
The five-time All-Star remained confident as always when speaking with the media.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on…Every shot I took felt good. I guarantee it. Me or Zach (LaVine) or Vooch (Nikola Vučević) ain’t going to miss that many shots again…Most of the shots I took were wide open. Wide-open. Wide-open. I’ll live with them again. No way in hell I shoot [6 for 25 again].”
To DeRozan’s point, this was his worst shooting performance since 2018 against the New York Knicks during the regular season. The last time he shot this poorly in the postseason was in Game 2 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
DeRozan in History
His Game 2 track record is also encouraging even with all of the similarities between his Game 1 performances. In series openers, DeRozan averages 20.4 points on 35.7% shooting. He has followed that up by averaging 22.2 points on 45.1% shooting in the second act.
Now, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t had more playoff clunkers throughout a series. He has seven other postseason games in which he shot 25% or worse from the floor.
In the 2018-19 season with the San Antonio Spurs, his most recent playoff appearance, DeRozan averaged 22 points with 6.7 rebounds, and 4.6 assists shooting 48.9% from the floor while never dipping below 33.3% from the floor as the Spurs took the Denver Nuggets seven games.
He remained steadfast in his approach and outlook following the tough showing.
“Nothing they are doing defensively. Most of the shots I took were wide open, wide open. I’ll live with them again. Like I said, no way in hell I shoot 6-for-25 again.”
Once again, he is right.
Here are the approximate player splits on the Bucks defenders who guarded DeRozan and what he shot against them in the regular season compared to Game 1 of the postseason.
- 44% – Wes Matthews – 51.6% FG
- 36% – Jrue Holiday – 40.7% FG
- 20% – Khris Middleton – 50% FG
- 47% – Matthews – 0.0% FG (0-for-4)
- 33% – Holiday – 33.3% FG
- 20% – Middleton – 60% FG
DeRozan averaged 31.3 points on 56.5% true shooting against the Bucks during the regular season. He could only muster 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting against the trio in this one finding the most success against Middleton (six points, 3-of-5 FG) whom he saw the least.
He also went 1-for-8 trying to challenge Brook Lopez and 2-for-8 total in the paint.
What Went Wrong?
The problem and solution are the same: DeRozan. He led the league with 9.8 midrange attempts per game this season. That means that fewer than half of his 20.2 attempts per game came from that area of the floor during the regular season. 15 of his 25 looks (60%) came from that area in the Game 1 loss.
He went 4-of-15 on mid-range attempts in Game 1.
“Games like this you have to rely on your defense to give you an opportunity to win. We had an opportunity. A couple of mistakes here and there late in the fourth quarter let it get away from us. That’s a good learning test for us to show how hard we’ve got to play.”
DeRozan did have three steals to go along with eight rebounds and six assists to just three turnovers so it wasn’t all bad.
Both Billy Donovan and DeMar DeRozan praised the defensive effort. Said that’s something Bulls can build on for Game 2.
The game’s most egregious mistake was not even on DeRozan. Referee Michael Smith called Patrick Williams for a foul on what appeared to be a clean box-out and an over-the-back foul by Giannis Antetokounmpo with 2:05 left in the fourth quarter and the Bulls trailing 87-84. It would have been Antetokounmpo’s sixth and final foul.
While Antetokounmpo finished with 27 points and 16 rebounds, he did not decide the outcome of this game. That is on the Bulls.
They were able to get within one point on Alex Caruso’s layup. But Nikola Vucevic missed a driving floater and the ensuing putback while Zach LaVine put up a quick three-pointer with 19 seconds on the shot clock and 30 seconds in the game while his team trailed 86-89.
The Bulls alternated Caruso take fouls with DeRozan and LaVine misses from there on out.
What do these correctable issues and DeRozan’s history mean for this series? Likely not much. But the Bulls showed they are still capable of playing at a higher level than they did to end the regular season.
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What we do not know is how LaVine or Vucevic will respond to DeRozan’s guarantee. This is LaVine’s first postseason appearance and it could have gone better after he was challenged by teammate Tristan Thompson to be like Devin Booker. LaVine finished with 18 points on 31.6% shooting going 2-for-10 from downtown.
How he responds in the next game will be critical as he battles a knee issue ahead of his first foray into unrestricted free agency.
LIVE: Zach LaVine speaks postgame following Game 1 t.co/wn9j75kEvP
Vucevic has 10 games worth of first-round playoff experience and, interestingly, dropped 35 points on the Milwaukee Bucks with 14 rebounds in the opener of a first-round series during the 2020 playoffs while with the Orlando Magic.
He followed the performance up with a 32-point, 10-board showing in Game 2 of that series, perhaps a good omen for the Bulls. Of course, that series was also over in five games.
Armstrong did give the Bulls credit for fighting their way back into the game but neither host gave them much of a chance moving forward. If the Bulls want to prove their doubters wrong, they will have to come through with an upset in Game 2 on Wednesday.